Becoming More
by Doverit
Summary: This story was inspired by Bethyl Week. :) Rated M for smut.
1. Chapter 1

"Eww"! Beth watched Daryl slurp down the disgusting contents of the jar of pigs

feet. She couldn't imagine being hungry enough to eat anything out of that

murky, fluid-filled jar, but he seemed thrilled to have it. The briney smell was

so strong that Beth instinctively backed away. Even the barbecued snake didn't

smell this gross. Daryl took full-advantage of her disgust and slurped some more

down, childishly enjoying her reaction. It was so silly and innocent, that she

couldn't help but smile at the normally surly man.

Beth watched Daryl's throat move as he swallowed down the sloppy mess. She

always watched him lately, too much for her own comfort actually. She was seeing

the hunter in a whole new light since their escape. They'd argued, fought, and

really talked for the first time ever. He wasn't at all the man she thought he

was. He was so much more.

Granted, it was just the two of them alone now, struggling just to live until

tomorrow. But Beth knew her interest in Daryl was more involved than their

forced contact. The more secrets he revealed about himself, the more she found

she wanted to dig deeper. Hard to believe he used to intimidate her. Now he

fascinated her.

His bicept bunched as he tilted the jar up to his lips for another gulp. His

neck arched, showing tan skin and gray-flecked beard stubble. She imagined his

skin would be soft there, by the scruff on his neck. Her fingers itched to touch

him to find out.

Her gaze slid lower down Daryl's body, clocking the breath of his shoulders,

muscular biceps, tight, tapered waist and lean, strong legs. She unconsciously

licked her lips as she felt the familiar heat of attraction begin to build-low

in her belly. Her face flamed as she realized that she was doing it again,

fantasizing about Daryl.

It was inappropriate. This was Daryl Dixon for goodness sake. She didn't want to

feel this way about him. It was stupid and childish for her to be mooning over

the older man who had never paid her any mind. She needed to stop this nonsense.

Beth tried to refocus her cloudy thoughts. She tried to imagine that Daryl found

out she was attracted to him and how he would react. She could imagine the shock

and pity clearly on his handsome face.. Imagining that helped. It was like a

bucket of ice water on the heat of her lust. She needed that reality check more

and more lately.

Enough of these silly daydreams. She was no damsel in distress and he was no

knight in shining armor from the books of her childhood. Although her fantasies

did help her cope with the horror of her new reality, she'd be wise not to get

carried away with them. She and Daryl were just two people thrown together

trying to survive, and she needed to remember that before her actions became

obvious and she made an utter fool of herself.

His blue-eyes snapped to hers and his smirk faded as he registered her staring

at him with still-heated eyes. Beth quickly looked away. Hoping against hope

that the hyper-observant hunter missed what she was trying to hide.

Daryl cleared his throat, his voice thick, "I'm gonna head out, take a quick

look around the property again. Make sure it's if you need me. I won't

be far."

Beth didn't trust herself to reply, just nodded at him as he grabbed his

crossbow and headed outside.

When he left the room, Beth shuddered out a breath she didn't realize she's been

holding and began to tidy up the pantry with shaky hands.

* * *

Daryl had to get out of there. His mind was all jangled-up. It was hard for him

to concentrate on simple things lately. No wonder with everything they'd been

dealt these last few days. The loss of their loved ones and their home just to

start with. He could finally understand why some people opted-out instead of

living with all the pain this new world spewed out. Too much fucked up shit. But

he needed to keep it together, couldn't afford to lose it now.

And by "lose it", he meant the completely inappropriate hard-on he seemed to

have going for his teenage roommate. He tried to rationalize his fantasies to

himself, but Jesus, it was gettin' pathetic. He could hardly be in the same room

with her anymore without mentally undressing her.

He was sure she'd be disgusted if she had a clue how dirty ol' Daryl was

thinking about her. Hell, he was disgusted with himself.

He pictured Herschel, clear as day in his mind, asking him to watch over his

baby girl, and that helped. Pushed that inappropriate shit right out of his

head, for a little while anyways.

Sometimes, nothing helped. He'd watch her small, lithe body doing some stupid

task and he's find himself completely transfixed. Since they escaped from the

prison, Beth had been proving to him more and more just how grown-up and capable

she'd become. It made him hopeful for her survival in this new world, but it

also made him see her as more than just a young girl for the first time, and

that was becoming a problem.

He'd stare at her and imagine his fingers running all over her, pushing her

clothes away and touching her pale, naked skin. His blood would heat and move

south. Then he would be looking to get the hell away from her right quick.

Sometimes, he could just shake it off, sometimes he couldn't. Sometimes he

needed to take matters into his own hands. Drown his lust, so to speak.

This was one of those times.

He slid out the door, and found a secluded spot behind some overgrown bushes on

the side of the house. He didn't want to go too far in case Beth needed him,

wanted to be close enough to hear her holler.

He pictured her as he unzipped his jeans. His hand was quick to circle around

himself and stroke down the stiff length. His whole frame shuddered in pleasure

as he thrust into his palm. Random images of Beth flickered through his head,

and what he hadn't seen for himself, he'd imagined countless times. Her big

blue-eyes, soft lips, small firm breasts with pink nipples, pale flat stomach,

blond pubic hair covering her wet slit, thin shapely legs wrapped tight around

his waist as he thrust into her. He arched his neck and bit his lip, his blood

roaring through him as he picked up the pace.


	2. Chapter 2: Red with embarrassment

Beth finished straightening up the kitchen and headed into the funeral home's

viewing room. It was so nice that there was a working piano here. Just placing

her hands upon the keys brought her right back to when life was simple again.

Wandering through the room, she found some sheet music in a basket near the

window to look through.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure lurking near the window. Her

heart lurched in her chest as panic began to set in. Was it a walker, or a

person? Should she call for Daryl or wait to see what it did? Frozen with

indecision, she decided to creep closer to the window and watch it for another

moment before she made a move.

She could only see part of the figure as it was standing in the bushes

in-between the two windows of the room. She wouldn't have seen it at all if she

hadn't been right up against the window where the sheet music was stored.

Moving closer for a better look, Beth felt relieved when she realized the figure

was just Daryl. Before she could even wonder what he was doing in the bushes, he

turned slightly to the side and her heart flipped in her chest when she saw

exactly what he was up too.

His head was thrown back, his eyes closed, his hand strong and steady as it

moved back and forth. She knew she should be shocked and disgusted, but she

wasn't. He was beautiful, and Beth was enthralled by the sight.

She had never seen a naked man, let alone one that was fully aroused, She

couldn't look away. Her face felt hot, and another kind of heat began to build

in her body, just from watching him.

Then Daryl moaned. She could just hear him through the closed window. At the

sound, everything clenched roughly down low in her, and Beth shifted her hips to

relish the sensation. Just watching him made her weak with desire, every nerve

felt raw.

She knew this was wrong. She should not be seeing him like this, she should just

walk away and pretend it never happened. Despite it all, she remained exactly

where she was, eyes glued to him.

She watched as his hand got faster, more deliberate. His body jerked and she

heard him groan out, "...Beth", as he shuddered to completion.

Beth's eyes went wide with shock and she let out an involuntary gasp. Daryl must

of heard her through the closed window. His head swiveling towards her at the

sound. His ice-blue eyes locking onto hers, as he quickly stuffed himself back

in his pants. Before she could even fully register what had just happened, he

was gone.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Daryl muttered to himself in frustration, as he took

off away from the house.

After a few minutes, he stopped moving and looked around. Just where the hell

did he think he was going? He couldn't just leave.

Could he?

He pictured Beth alone in that house, waiting for him to return. She was

probably horrified by what she just saw. No, as much as he wanted to run, he

definitely couldn't leave.

Daryl started pacing. He ran his hand roughly over his face as he weighed his

next move. So, she busted him jerking off? So what? They were both grown-ups,

and it was normal and all that shit.

He felt his face burn red with embarrassment and he desperately wanted to punch

something.

Registering the weight of the crossbow in his arm, he swiveled it until it lay

across his back and decided he might as well hunt. Not the best time for it, but

whatever. He just couldn't go back there right now. Pushing his embarrassment

away, he focused on finding some small game. Maybe by the time he was done he'd

figure out how the hell he was gonna face her.

Beth peeked out the front window, watching Daryl as he headed off towards the

woods. She didn't claim to know him well, but she did know that was he was

running away from her at the moment. He'd be back, she felt certain, but no time

soon which was fine with her.

How the heck was she going to face him after seeing what she saw? It was one

thing for her to romanticize Daryl in her mind, when there was no basis in

reality. It was quite another thing to see him touch himself and orgasm while

calling out her name.

Beth touched her hand to her forehead and let the implication of that sink in.

Daryl was touching himself and thinking about her. This was a game changer, one

of her secret fantasies come to life. But instead of being thrilled, she was

terrified. In her deepest, secret thoughts, she'd only just acknowledged to

herself that she wanted him, and now she knew he wanted her too.

Did she just ignore the whole thing? They could go back to their budding

friendship. That was safe. Secure.

Beth worried her bottom lip as she headed into the kitchen and busied herself pulling out cans and bowls for

their makeshift dinner. If Daryl returned for dinner that is.

They should probably just ignore it what happened. Beth felt her lips curve into

a smirk as she imagined trying to forget what she just saw and God...heard

Daryl moan out. Her name. Yeah right, how was she just going to forget that? No

way. Her body was still sensitized and throbbing from it all. Watching him made

her heart pound. It made her feel alive for the first time in a very long while.

Truth was, a part of her wished she had been touching him, making him shudder

and moan. That wanton thought both excited and terrified her. Unlike her, she

was sure Daryl was no virgin. Did she really want this? Would he really want

this?

Beth opened up a can of pasta in sauce and some beans for protein. Too

distracted to worry about heating it up, she scooped up a little less than half

from each can and put it in one of the bowls, saving the lion's share for Daryl

when he returned. It was such a luxury to be eating with bowls and silver wear

again, it added to her giddy mood.

The more she thought about it, she felt that when Daryl returned, he would say

nothing. He just barely started talking to her as is. Now after this? Beth felt

that he would avoid her as much as he could. And he would definitely never

mention what she saw.

Pushing her spoon around the bowl, she scooped up some pasta. Chewing

thoughtfully, she admitted to herself that she wasn't ok with him ignoring

everything. She wanted to acknowledge it. She wanted to talk about it and hear

what he had to say.

The question was, how to get him to talk to her. He was embarrassed for sure.

She knew him well enough to know that Daryl didn't do embarrassed. So, the

answer was, take away the embarrassment for him, but how?


	3. Chapter 3: Numb with Feels

Beth wished for the thousandth time that Maggie was here to talk to. She missed

her sister so much. Maggie would help her. She would know what to do.

Thinking of her sister, made her remember a time when they were little. Maggie

had a sleepover at their house, and Beth had begged and begged to be included.

Reluctantly the girls allowed the much younger Beth to hang with them. She was

probably around 7 or 8 years old at the time. The girls decided to watch the

horror movie, Friday the 13th. Beth watched it with them. When it was over, the

girls were just happily chatting away, the movie all but forgotten. But Beth was

petrified. She was frozen, numb, too scared to even walk down the dark hallway

of her home to go to the bathroom by herself, afraid Jason would be lurking and

waiting with his machete.

Eventually, Beth couldn't hold it anymore and to her mortification, she peed

herself. The older girls noticed and laughed at her. When Maggie realized what

happened, she played it off beautifully. She told her friends that she had peed

her pants during the first horror movie she ever saw and that Beth was just

carrying on the Greene girl family tradition. Everyone laughed including Beth

who was so grateful to her big sister for making her feel ok about it.

Thinking of her sisters kindness that day helped. Beth now knew what she would

do.

It was after dark when Daryl finally returned to the funeral home. He carried

two fat rabbits into the kitchen and put them into the sink. He noticed a

covered bowl on the table and saw a note next to it.

"Your dinner. I'm upstairs. Come find me when you return. I need to talk to

you."

Daryl lifted the lid and saw canned pasta and beans.. Grabbing a spoon, he ate,

trying not to think of her upstairs and what she could possibly want to say to

him.

He took his time eating. Dragging out every bite while his mind turned over the

possibilities of how this was going to play out.

Shit. Why did she have to see him? Things were going ok between them. Better

than ok if he was honest with himself. They'd survived, and they'd had some

moments that meant something to him. He had no clue what she thought of it all,

but those moments, had made things less tragic for him. It had meant a lot, and

he was grateful.

Daryl snorted, only two ways to go really, get closer, or not. Being forced into

such close contact, relying on each other like they do, wasn't much of a choice

really.

But all that newfound closeness had also complicated how he saw Beth now.

Before, she had always been Herschel's baby girl. Not a child by any means, but

someone to be cared for...protected.

Definitely not fantasy-material for a man twice her age.

The worst part was, despite his illicit fantasies that he never meant for her to

know, he truly liked Beth. A lot. She was surprisingly gutsy, but also warm and

sweet. He hated himself for making this current situation what it was. Every

time he thought of her upstairs waiting for him, he felt dread settle heavy in

his stomach. He wasn't afraid of much, but he was absolutely petrified of

ruining what he had with this girl.

His dinner done, he reluctantly forced himself to get up from the kitchen table.

His feet felt like lead, every instinct was telling him to run...avoid this

situation altogether. He set his teeth and pushed his way through his

embarrassment...and if he was completely honest with himself, his fear, and made

his way slowly upstairs to hear what Beth had to say


	4. Chapter 4

A thousand apologies for the late update. Thank you to everyone who followed,

liked & commented on my little fluff story. I have no clue how to fix the odd

spacing problem of my text. If anyone has a possible solution, please contact

me. I'd be forever grateful!

"Becoming More"

chapter 4: "Enchanted"

While he was gone, Beth's thoughts were churning. She had an idea on how to fix

things with Daryl. It was a crazy idea, and she truthfully didn't know if she

could even go through with it.

She was scared he would close himself off from her now. She hoped and prayed

everyday they'd find the others but the reality was it might just be the two of

them from here on out. She didn't want him uncomfortable around her. They needed

to be able to communicate, to rely on each other. Hard to do that when you're

busy avoiding the other person. But even she had to admit that the situation was

pretty darn uncomfortable, for both of them.

The only way she knew how to even the playing field between them was to put

herself in a similar compromising position. It was a crazy idea, but she could

think of no other way to try and fix this. She wanted to make things right

between them. She thought of Maggie and that long-ago sleepover and tried to

will herself to be brave enough to go through with her plan.

She knew what needed to be done. For him, she was willing to do whatever it

took. Anything. He was worth it. But actually going through with her plan was

not going to be easy.

Beth didn't consider herself a weak person, but this was taking everything she

had. She was scared. And that fear was making her want to forget this idea. It

was too risky. Too much.

Despite the potential embarrassment and rejection, she had to do something. She

liked Daryl. True, she was attracted to him too. However, it was innocent. It

was nothing she had ever considered pursuing. Just harmless fantasies to occupy

her thoughts during the long, sad, dreary days.

Then, she saw him touching himself, and heard him moan her name. It was

embarrassing to admit, even to herself, but she was becoming enchanted with the

man.

So, despite her feelings, despite all her negative thoughts about her plan,

despite the potential disaster, she couldn't just walk away. She needed to do

this. She was ready.

Beth heard Daryl's footsteps. The normally stealthy hunter had a heavy-tread as

he made his way up the stairs to the main room where she was waiting, sitting on

the edge of the bed.

He stood in the doorway. His eyes looking everywhere but at her, he grunted,

"got yer note", and shifted his stance uncomfortably.

"Please sit down", she gestured toward a tufted, pink vanity chair in the

corner.

"Rather stand", he said.

"Please?", she said again quietly.

He looked at her for the first time since entering the room, huffed-out a

breath, and reluctantly made his way over to the fancy chair. He looked very

out-of-place sitting on the frilly-pink chair, and the ridiculousness of it all

helped calm Beth's nerves. Steeling herself, she began.

"I'm not sorry that I saw you today," she said softly. He met her eyes again,

embarrassment and anger etched on his face. Good, at least he was listening to

her.

Beth looked down and began to unbutton her blouse. Her fingers were unsteady,

but she wouldn't stop. "I heard you say my name", she said as she slipped the

blouse off her shoulders.

"Beth", Daryl said gruffly, standing up, "Don't".

She wasn't sure if he was going to come towards her or flee the room. Either

way, she wasn't having it. Jumping up, she stood toe to toe with him. She put

her hands on his chest and gently pushed him back into the seat.

"Please Daryl, can you please just listen?"

He didn't answer. Just warily eyed her as she stood there in only her jeans and

white bra.

"Everyday we look for Maggie and the others, and that hope of actually finding

them...alive, gets slimmer. I've been thinking that it might just be you and me

now."

She unbuckled her belt and let it slide to the floor. Next, she popped the

buttons on her jeans and slid them over her hips, and down her legs. Stepping

out of the denim, she placed her pants on top of her blouse and belt on the

floor.

Straightening up, she squared her shoulders and forced herself to stand tall

before him in her bra and panties, not cower or slouch to cover herself.

"I hate that you were embarrassed today. You see, there's really no need for you

to feel that way, because I have...those kind of feelings...about you too."

She reached behind her chest and unclasped her bra, holding the cups on her

breasts.

"I never would've told you because, it was just my private thoughts. Little

fantasies that I never would've shared. Then I saw you," she trailed off,

"...and heard you," letting her bra fall to the floor next to her growing pile

of clothing.

She heard Daryl suck in a breath and her eyes snapped back to him. "And I

thought, maybe he has some fantasies of his own? Honestly, before today, the

thought never occurred to me. That's just how incredibly stupid I am," she said

with a small, nervous smile.

"Beth," he growled, his tone a warning, as his gaze roamed over her body.

She ignored him, hooked her fingers into the sides of her panties, and dragged

them down her legs. She then placed the tiny scrap on the top of the clothing

heap, and stood up tall to meet his gaze.

"I'm not saying we should be together. I'm not hoping you'll be my boyfriend. I

don't even know what that means now. I just want you to know that I think about

you too...sometimes."

She could feel her emotions getting the best of her. But she so didn't want to

cry right now. "Please don't turn away from me because you're embarrassed or

afraid of whatever this," she gestured between them, "is or isn't."

She looked down at her naked body and back at Daryl, "so now we're even. I saw

you, and now you saw me. So, no more running away, ok? I need you. We need each

other."

With trembling fingers, she bent over to pick up her discarded clothing to begin

to redress. His hand gripped her wrist, stopping her movements. She looked up at

him in confusion.

His blue eyes bore into hers. God, those eyes, she was enchanted by them. "We're

not quite even yet," he said, his voice a low rumble.


End file.
